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Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (Japanese: ファイアーエムブレム Echoes もうひとりの英雄王Fire Emblem Echoes: Another Hero-King) is a turn-based strategy role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS system. It is a remake of the NES title Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second game in the Fire Emblem series.[1]

Contents

Plot

As a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia recounts the general story of Gaiden. The remake expands the script and roles of characters significantly.

Like the original, it is set in Valentia in the centuries after the clash between the sibling gods, Mila and Duma. After swearing to go their separate ways, the gods created their own kingdoms: Duma's harsh and militaristic nation of Rigel in the north, and Mila's hedonistic kingdom of Zofia in the south. The game follows Alm and Celica, a pair of childhood friends, as they conduct separate campaigns during a time of crisis in Valentia.

Gameplay

New features

Although the game's engine appears to be based off of those of Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates, Shadows of Valentia is set to be a departure from the gameplay of both games as official materials emphasize that many of the elements that made Gaiden a unique title will be returning. Specifically mentioned are: free-roaming world map, dungeons,[2] and flexible character progression.

Pre-release screenshots have also indicated that the magic stat is completely absent, like the original game. Other new features include the world map now featuring the passage of time, represented as a date. This is similar to the original Gaiden's world map having a turn count. The new Mila's Turnwheel artifact allows players to undo mistakes by rewinding their actions. Units can also learn abilities from their equipped weapons by using that weapon often. The game also has amiibo compatibility similar to Fire Emblem Fates, though the allies summoned from amiibo in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia are not permanent members of the party and vanish after one turn.

The game is fully voiced,[3] which marks this game as the first mainline Fire Emblem series title to have full voice acting.

Characters

The entire playable cast of Gaiden returns for the remake, with the addition of two brand new playable characters, Faye, for Alm's party, and Conrad, for Celica's party. This brings the total playable roster to 34 characters in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

Additionally three new antagonists appear in the remake, Berkut, Rinea, and Fernand. Most bosses also return in the remake, with the exception of Shizas, who is replaced by Berkut in Act 4.

Acts

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia introduces an additional prologue and a postgame chapter to the original game's five chapters. Chapters in Shadows of Valentia are instead known as "Acts", presumably to differentiate them from more traditionally-structured chapters in other Fire Emblem games.

Support and Base Conversations

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia introduces both base and support conversations to the game, neither of which existed in Gaiden. These conversations expand on the existing cast. Additionally, Memory Prisms, when combined with Mila's Turnwheel, provide further character interactions, though these take place in the past rather than the present.

Development

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was revealed in the Fire Emblem Direct alongside Fire Emblem Heroes on the 18th of January 2017 at 2PM PT/5PM ET. During the direct gameplay footage, animated cutscenes, and character artwork of Alm and Celica were shown.

In Japan, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia will also be available in two special editions: the more basic Limited Edition contains the game, a soundtrack CD, a download code for early downloadable content, and a Fire Emblem Cipher card featuring Alm. The Valentia Complete edition includes all of the Limited Edition's contents, as well as another Cipher card featuring Celica, a copy of the Valentia Artbook, a collection of concept art from the game, and a Blu-Ray copy of the Fire Emblem HD Movie Collection, featuring high-definition cutscenes from Echoes: Shadows of Valentia itself, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, and Fates.[4]

Outside of Japan, the game has received one Limited Edition, featuring the game itself, the Valentia art book, a reversible cover featuring the original Fire Emblem Gaiden artwork, a pixel art pin set, and a sound selection CD.[5] The international Limited Edition unfortunately does not include the Fire Emblem HD Movie Collection, DLC codes, or trading cards from the Japanese Editions. Though the pixel art pin set is exclusive to international Limited Editions. Additionally, the European Limited Edition comes bundled with one Alm amiibo and one Celica amiibo.

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia will be the first title in the Fire Emblem series to be localized for Chinese markets, featuring both Traditional and Simplified Chinese versions of the script. The announcement of the Chinese version, released on February 12th 2017, also confirmed that the spinoff Fire Emblem Warriors would receive Chinese localizations.[6] This follows the introduction of the Fire Emblem series to the South Korean market with Fates.

On April 3, 2017 the Japanese version of Echoes: Shadows of Valentia leaked on the internet, roughly seventeen days before its official Japanese release.[7]

Reception

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Kat Bailey of USgamer criticized it for being too hard, lacking elements of the series such as the weapon triangle, inventories that can hold more than one item, and marriage. However, she thought of the world map and dungeons positively.[8] Martin Robinson of Eurogamer recommended the game, but did not believe it to be the best of the three 3DS games. Robinson liked the Mila's Turnwheel feature, believing it to be an "elegant alternative" to resetting the game, and hoped it would become series standard.[9] Heather Alexandra of Kotaku criticized the game's pacing, believing the early game to be too slow, and the endgame too hard.[10]

Trivia

Echoes: Shadows of Valentia had the shortest wait between Japanese and international release of a mainline Fire Emblem series title yet, with English-speaking fans having to wait a mere 29 days after the Japanese release. The most quickly localized game previously was Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, whose first international version to be released, the PAL localization, was released five months after the Japanese version.

The logo for this "game".

For April Fools' 2017, a new game called "Fire Emblem: Battle of Revolution" (Japanese: ファイアーエムブレム 維新大乱) was announced, for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS. It prominently features Valbar, Kamui, and Leon. It takes place in the Edo period of Japan. Some text on the website is in traditional vertical writing, and all character and location names were written in kanji with the katakana names as furigana. DLC featuring Marth in was also announced for "Battle of Revolution". There would also be scrolls as a limited bonus. It was stated to be released on April 20, 2017, the same date as Shadows of Valentia.[11]

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology and in other regions

Language

Name

Definition, etymology and notes

English

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Valentia is the name of the continent the game is set on. An echo is a repeated sound, possibly referring to its remake status.

Screenshots

References

↑"In 1992, the second game in the Fire Emblem series, Fire Emblem Gaiden, launched exclusively in Japan. Now, for the first time, fans outside of Japan will get a taste of this classic game on the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is inspired by the 1992 original, reimagined on a grander scale." — Nintendo, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, nintendo.com(webpage), Published: January 18th 2017, Retrieved: January 19th 2017

↑"Every aspect of the Fire Emblem Gaiden game's presentation has been updated, along with the game being fully voiced." — Nintendo, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, nintendo.com(webpage), Published: January 18th 2017, Retrieved: January 19th 2017